Photo: Yhoitink · CC BY-SA 3.0Clymer’s library lends 16 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries its size
Clymer-French Creek Free Library serves 2,760 people in and around Clymer. Last year it lent 44K print books and media and logged 7,127 visits.
What Clymer’s library is like
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 57% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 99% of similar-size libraries. Kids & programs ↓
Busy on a lean budget
Clymer-French Creek Free Library spends $20 per resident, less than 85% of similar-size libraries (typical: $43). It’s still borrowed from more than 71% of them. What your card is worth ↓
People borrow more than they stay
Borrowing per resident is higher than at 98% of similar-size libraries, but visits are lower than at 57%. People come in, pick up their books and go. How it compares ↓
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
31% of the system’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 29%. What your card is worth ↓
Most programs are for young children
71% of the 100 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including 33 for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
This summary is written from the numbers on this page. Numbers are the library’s own report to the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024; Clymer-French Creek Free Library serves 2,760 people in and around Clymer, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Clymer’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Clymer is ahead of 47% of U.S. towns. Clymer is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Clymer’s count of community nonprofits pulls it down.
Civic life counts registered nonprofits, library visits and online volunteering groups, so it can miss civic life that runs through congregations, mutual aid or neighbors looking out for each other.
Library visits: IMLS Public Libraries Survey, FY2024. Nonprofits: IRS Exempt Organizations Business Master File, October 2026. Volunteering: Social Capital Atlas (Opportunity Insights), from data by Meta Platforms, Inc.; Chetty et al., Nature 2022. How TownRatings grades civic life →
6 community nonprofits are registered in Clymer
2.8 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: civic groups, clubs & veterans.
Community nonprofits, by kind
Counted from the IRS list of tax-exempt organizations by mailing address (fractions where a ZIP code spans towns). Congregations are counted apart (4 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
9.0%
9.0% of Clymer’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 7.4% in the typical New York town and 7.5% nationally.
Volunteering: Social Capital Atlas (Opportunity Insights), from data by Meta Platforms, Inc.; Chetty et al., Nature 2022. ZIP-code figures, weighted by where Clymer’s residents live; 2022.
About 1 kids’ program a week
Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 4 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Clymer-French Creek Free Library serves 2,760 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 34 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Clymer-French Creek Free Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
44K print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Clymer-French Creek Free Library, 564 Clymer - Sherman Road, Clymer.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Clymer-French Creek Free Library branch.
New in Clymer? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $11.74 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Clymer cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $54K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $635K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $54K budget.
Fine-free. No late fees on books returned late.
Retail prices are typical, rounded down: a new book $17, a kids’ book $12, an e-book or e-audiobook $15, a movie rental $4, a class or program $10, a computer or Wi-Fi session $3. The average cardholder’s month = the library’s yearly loans, attendance and Wi-Fi sessions ÷ its 1,229 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sherman | Minerva Free Library fine-free | 4.2 | 25 | C+ |
| Clymer | Clymer-French Creek Free Library fine-free | — | 25 | B− |
| Harmony | None of its own | — | — | C+ |
| French Creek | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
Loans = print + digital items borrowed in the library’s fiscal year, per person it serves. — = no library of its own, a county or regional system (its numbers cover many towns), or no report. Civic life: — = not graded (unincorporated places, whose nonprofits can’t be placed by mailing address, or towns with fewer than two of the three inputs).
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- Digital loans not reported. New York libraries often don’t report e-book loans, so borrowing here is print only.
- System-wide. Clymer-French Creek Free Library serves 2,760 people in and around Clymer, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Clymer.
Hours are the survey’s yearly average; libraries are compared with others serving about as many people. How TownRatings uses library figures →
Questions about the library and civic life in Clymer
Does Clymer have a public library?
Yes. Clymer-French Creek Free Library, 564 Clymer - Sherman Road, serves 2,760 people in and around Clymer (the survey’s count) and is open about 25 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Clymer-French Creek Free Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
Yes to both: no late fees, and e-books, audiobooks and research databases with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Clymer’s library?
It logged 2.6 visits and lent 16.0 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Clymer’s civic life grade?
B− Clymer is ahead of 47% of U.S. towns on civic life. The grade combines library visits per resident, community nonprofits per 1,000 residents and the share of adults 25–44 in volunteering groups. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Clymer.
Libraries: Institute of Museum and Library Services, Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024. Each library reports its own numbers. Distances are straight-line from the town center. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.